Safety latch for bank vaults



H. J. COON SAFETY LATCH FOR BANK VAULTS Feb. 26, 1929.

Filed July 1927 Fizz/6025']? Patented Feb. 26, 1929.

UNITED STATES HORTON J. coon, or EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY LATCH FOR BANK VAULTS.

Application filed July 2,

The latch of the present invention is designed as a safeguard to revent burglars or bank robbers from comp etely closing the door of a vault, particularly when it is sought thus to confine the officials or employees of a bank during an attempted robbery. The device is so arranged that in such circumstances, if the vault door be swung to, it will be caught and latched against further closing and also against opening from the outside, so that it will be impossible to swing the door to a position where it may be bolted.

The invention is further designed to be easily disabled by an authorized person when it is desired to close the vault door for the night or for other reasons, thus readily a casing which includes a plate 14, the lower adapting the device to serve as an emergency safety appliance under the conditions mentioned. The device is so constructed that it may be readily applied to bank doors of the usual formation, and when applied will be rugged and reliable for the intended purpose.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a face view of a vault door and casing looking from the inside, and with the latch thrown;

. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional detail of the latch in position on the door; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the latch.

The device is applied to a vault door 10 of the usual character having near its margin on the inner side a bolt rail 11 which extends across near the top of the door in the form of a top rail 12 upon which the latch 13 of the present invention is mounted. As shown, the vault door is surrounded by edge of which extends below the level of the door opening and constitutes in effect a flange with which the latch member of the:

- block, and by depressing thela tch member present invention coacts.

The latch mechanism of the present in-. vention comprises a mounting block 15 which may be of the square formation shown, or any otherdesired formation, and.

the block rests upon and is secured to the top rail 12 preferably at a point near the free edge of the door. The mountingblock serves as a mounting for a latch member 16 which, as shown, is of cylind'rical formation and is slidably mounted within a cylindrical bore 17, althoughthe latch member might be of square or other formation and.

1927. Serial No. 203,046.

mounted within a shape.

The latch member is normally held in elevatedposition by the action of a coil spring 18 which occupies a position within the bore immediately beneath the latch member, and in order to prevent the latch member from being ejected upwardly from the bore by the tension of the spring, a pair of co-acting screw stops 19 and 20 are provided, the former of which is carried by the latch member and the latter by the block. The latch member is provided in its forward face with a groove 21 into which the stop 19 projects to furnish a closure for the lower end of the groove, while the stop 20 projects into the groove and thus limits the upward movebore of corresponding ment of the latch member after its upper 'of the latch member forwardly of the slot at the point 23 is flat while the rear upper face 24 is beveled, as indicated,-and terminates in a knife edge 25, which is slightly lower than the edge of the face 24 on the forward side of the slot. The latch block is held in position by means of bolts 26, the heads of which are preferably countersunk within recesses 27 in the latch block. The bolts extend through the latch block and through the top rail 12 and are held by means of nuts 28 bearing against the lower face of the top rail.

In order to disable the latch member by holding its acting face below a position where it will engage with the flange 14, a pair of registering holes 29 and 30 are provided, respectively in the latch member and the until the holes are brought into register, and by inserting a pin or wire 31, the latch Lmember will be disabled or held out of comcumstances, the vault door be swung closed, the beveled rear face 24: of the latch member will engage with the flange 14 or other flangelike projection and be depressed against the tension of the spring 18 until the knife edge 25 clears the rear edge of the flange, which will permit the latch member to spring upwardly into position to bring the slot 22 in position to engage and embrace the edge of the flange. The knife edge 25 being somewhat lower in position than the forward portion of the latch member, the latch member cannot thus be pressed sufficiently to prevent the forward portion of the latch member from engaging with the flange thus preventing a full closing of the door. When, however, is desired to permit such full closing, the latch member can be thrust downwardly and held by the insertion of the pin or wire, which will then permit the latch device of the present invention to swing clear beneath the flange and permit the door to be closed to its fullest extent, which, in the construction indicated, will bring the edge of the door 10 into abutment with the fl; i l

l/Vith the door partly closed and latched, it will be impossible to either open or close the door, and, at the same time, a crack or crevice will be maintained around the door, so that anyone confined inside the vault will not be in danger of suffocation. The door may be easily opened from within by press ing down upon the exposed beveled surface 24 of the latch member witha tool or with the fingers, where conditions will permit, but an effort to press down and release the latch member from the outside may easily be frustrated by thrusting the pin into the hole 30 which will prevent the latch member from being depressed. suffioiently to clear the flange 14;. a

The device is one which is of extremely simple construction, and, at the same time, when proportioned and mounted with due regard to the range of movements required to ensure a proper functioning of the parts will constitute an eflicient safeguard under the conditions of use for which the device is intended.

I claim:

1. In a safety latch of the character described, in combination with a door casing having an inwardly projecting flangedilre eX tension and a door provided near one of its free edges with a shelf-like rail, a latch block mounted upon said rail and provided with a bore, a latch member slidably mounted within said bore, a. spring within the bore acting to outwardly project the latch memher, the latch member in its acting face being provided with a slot of a size to engage with the flange-like projection, and the face of the latch member inside of said slot being beveled to furnish a cam surface adapted to be acted upon by the projection to depress the latch member against spring tension until the slotted portion of the latch member is in position to engage with the flange-like projection, substantially as described.

2. In a safety latch of the character described, in combination with a door casing having an inwardly projecting flange-like extension and a door provided near one of the free edges with a shelfdike rail, a latch block mounted upon said rail and provided with a bore, a latch member slidably mounted with in said bore, a spring within the bore acting to outwardly project the latch member, the latch member inits acting face being provided with a slot of a size to engage with the flange-like projection, the face of the latch member inside of said slot being beveled to furnish a cam surface adapted to be acted upon by the projection to depress the latch member against spring tension until the slotted portion of the latch member is in position to engage with the flange-like projection, and the latch member and latch block being provided with registering holes adapted for the reception of a pin, the holes being positioned when 1n register to prevent outward projection of the latch member,

substantially as described.

3. In combination with vided with a rlangedike projection and a door provided near its upper edge with a rail, a latch block secured to the upper side of the rail in position to clear the flangelilre projection, the latch block being provided with a bore, a latch member slidably mounted within the bore, a spring mounted within the bore and pressing upwardly against the latch member to project the same into engaging position with the flange-like projection, the latch member being provided in its acting face with a cross slot of a size to embrace the flange-like projection, the rear portion of the acting face of the latch member being beveled and terminating below the plane of the forward portion of the latch member to permit depression of the latch member sufficiently to bring the cross slot into engaging relation with the flangelike projection without permitting a clearance ofthe forward end portion of the latch member, substantially as described.

l. In a safety latch of the character de scribed, in combination with a door and'associated door casing, a latch block secured to one of said members in co-acting relationto the other when the door is slightly ajar, a latch member socketed within the block and normally projecting therefrom, a spring for holding the latch member in projected relation, the latch member having an acting face configured to engage with the edge of the associated member which co-acts with the latch carrying member and be cammed back during the closing of the door and a door casing pro-v i;

ltll) thereafter released and projected in position to engage with the associated member to hold the door ajar.

5. In a safety latch of the character described, the combination with a door and door casing and a member projecting inwardly from the door casing, of a latch block secured to the doorin proximity to an edge thereof, a latch member yieldably mounted within the latch block, and a spring acting to cause projection of the latch memher, the latch member having an acting face configured to engage with and be depressed by the projecting member from the casing and to re-engagetherewith under tension of the spring to hold the door in partly closed position, substantially as described.

6. In a safety latch of the character described, the combination with a doorand door casing and a member projecting inwardly from the door casing, of a latch block secured to the door in proximity to an edge thereof, a latch member yieldably mounted within the latch block, a spring acting to cause projection of the latch member, the latch member having an acting face configured to engage with and be depressed by the projecting member and to re-cngage therewith under tension of the spring to 10lCl the door in partly closed position, and means for holding back the latch member in non-engaging position to disable the latch and permit full closing of the door, substantially as described.

7. In a safety latch of the kind described, the combination with a door and associated door casing, of a block secured to one of said members in co-acting relation to the other when the door is slightly ajar, there being an upwardly facing socket in the block, a

latch member mounted within the block socket and movably upwardly to a position above the block, a spring for normally projecting the latch member upwardly above the block, the latch member having an acting face formed to engage with the associated member which co-acts with the latch carrying member, and be cammed back thereby during closing of the door and thereafter released and projected in position to engage with the associated member to hold the door ajar, substantially as described.

8. In a safety latch of the kind described, the combination with a door and associated door casing, of a spring actuated latch member carried by one of said members and adapted to co-operate with the other member when the door is slightly ajar, and a single means for latching said latch member from movement in any direction when the latch member is in one position and from moving in a direction counter to the actuation of the spring when the latch member is in another position, substantially as described.

9. In a safety latch of the kind described, the combination with a door and associated door casing, of a latch member carried by the one and adapted to co-operate with the other when the door is slightly ajar, spring means tending to move the latch member to acting position, and a single means operable to restrain the latch member when in one position from moving counter to the tension of said spring means and when in another position from moving in any direction, substantially as described.

HORTON J. COON. 

